Jack and the Beanstalk Tickets in London at the Hackney Empire

What Tickets Cost

Tickets start from £12 all-in, and most seats are around £25 to £60. Prices climb as Christmas gets closer:

• November and the weekday matinees are the cheapest, from £12.
• December weekday evenings start from around £20.
• December weekends and Christmas week start from around £25 and go up to around £65 for the best seats.

The cheapest seat of the run is a weekday matinee at 1:30pm. Call us on 020 7193 9050 if you're booking for a big family and want to sit together.

Performance Schedule

There are two shows on most Saturdays and Sundays, and a 1:30pm matinee on most weekdays until the schools break up.

The weekday matinees up to Thursday 17 December are schools matinees, so expect plenty of school groups. Anyone can book them.

Christmas week is different:

• Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 23 December: 1:30pm and 6pm
• Christmas Eve: 1:30pm only
• Christmas Day: no performance
• Boxing Day: 2:30pm only
• Sunday 27 December: 1pm and 5:30pm
• Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 December: 1:30pm and 6pm
• Wednesday 30 December: 1:30pm
• New Year's Eve: 1:30pm, the last performance

Book Jack and the Beanstalk Tickets

Jack and the Beanstalk is at the Hackney Empire from 21 November to 31 December 2026, with tickets from £12. All-in: the price you pick is the price you pay.

Pick your date and seats online, or call us on 020 7193 9050 to book by phone.

Best Seats for Jack and the Beanstalk

The centre of the Stalls, a few rows back, is the best for panto: close enough to be part of the fun, far enough back to see the whole stage. The Dress Circle has a good view of everything and more legroom than the Stalls.

Book the Gallery only if everyone is 14 or older. It's unreserved benches with no backs, 87 steps up, and the theatre doesn't recommend it for children.

There's more on each level in the Tickets and Best Seats tab.

Where to Sit for Jack and the Beanstalk

The Hackney Empire is an old variety theatre, and most seats look straight at the stage. For a panto, being close counts for more than height, because the dame works the audience.

Stalls

The best level for children. The centre, a few rows back, is the spot: you see the whole set and you're in range when the cast come down to the audience. Legroom is tight on this level.

At the very back are a few small tables with two to four seats. They're fun for a small group, but you have to turn to face the stage. There's step-free access into the front Stalls.

Dress Circle

25 steps up, or there's a lift. You see the whole stage from here and there's more legroom than in the Stalls. Stay towards the middle: the ends of the first two rows curve round and look at the stage from the side. The Boxes at the back of the Dress Circle work well for a family.

Upper Circle

52 steps up and cheaper. The front rows give a full view of the stage. Legroom is the tightest in the building, there's no handrail down the central aisle, and when the cast go down into the Stalls you lose sight of them.

Gallery

87 steps up, with unreserved benches and no backs. The theatre doesn't recommend it for under-14s, so leave it for grown-up groups on a budget. If you do book it, get there when the doors open for a seat at the front.

Who's Jack and the Beanstalk For?

• Families with young children. The theatre welcomes all ages, and a child of 3 or under can sit on your lap without a ticket.
• First-timers to panto. It's the classic version: a dame, a cow, a giant, a baddie to boo and lots of shouting back at the stage.
• School groups and families with a weekday free. The 1:30pm weekday matinees up to 17 December are the cheapest performances of the run.

Not for you if you want a celebrity line-up and a West End-sized budget. That's the London Palladium panto. Hackney's is built around its dame and a company that comes back year after year.

About Jack and the Beanstalk at the Hackney Empire

For the last few years Hackney's panto has been Clive Rowe's show: he plays the dame and directs. Dame Trot is his part again this year, and Kat B, a Hackney panto favourite, plays her son Simple Simon.

Expect the big Hackney panto ingredients: a lot of audience joining in, songs written for the show, dance numbers and some very silly costumes for the dame.

The running time hasn't been published yet. The theatre says it sends it in an email the day before your performance.

What's Jack and the Beanstalk About?

Jack Trot and his mum, Dame Trot, are broke, so Jack sells the family cow for a handful of magic beans. Overnight they grow into a beanstalk that reaches the clouds, and at the top lives a giant. Jack climbs up to outwit him, with his brother Simple Simon and his friend Jill along for the ride, Fairy Firethorn on their side and the giant's henchman, Fleshcreep, in their way.

Jack and the Beanstalk Reviews

Press night is Thursday 3 December 2026, and this year's reviews will be added after that.

What critics said about earlier Hackney pantos

These are reviews of earlier Hackney Empire pantos, not this one. Clive Rowe directed all of them.

When Hackney last did Jack and the Beanstalk, in 2021, Andrzej Lukowski of Time Out gave it four stars and called it "a lovely, joyful night out", with Rowe in "typically glorious" form as Dame Trot.

Reviewing Dick Whittington in 2024, he gave three stars: Rowe was "the best panto dame in London, probably the world", though he found the rest of that show less memorable.

For Cinderella in 2025, Theo Bosanquet gave it four stars in WhatsOnStage and wrote that "the Hackney Empire panto is back to its best this year". Rowe directed that one without playing the dame.

Jack and the Beanstalk News

Clive Rowe's return as dame was announced in 2026, after a year when he only directed.

Cast and Creative Team

Clive Rowe plays Dame Trot and directs. Kat B is Simple Simon Trot, Marina Lawrence-Mahrra is Jack and Summer Priest is Jill. Louise Cielecki plays Fairy Firethorn, Christopher Staines is the villain, Fleshcreep, and Andre Antonio plays the Harp and Timothy Trot.

Will Brenton wrote it, with songs by Steven Edis.

Jack and the Beanstalk Cast

• Clive Rowe: Dame Trot. An Olivier Award winner, and Hackney's dame for years.
• Kat B: Simple Simon Trot, a part he also had in 2021.
• Marina Lawrence-Mahrra: Jack Trot
• Summer Priest: Jill
• Louise Cielecki: Fairy Firethorn
• Christopher Staines: Stephen Fleshcreep
• Andre Antonio: the Harp and Timothy Trot

The ensemble are Ellie Greenway, Alanna Panditaratne, Charlize Indigo, Charlie Scales, Toby Seddon, Lara Wollington and Sam Jamison.

Creative Team

Directed by Clive Rowe and written by Will Brenton, who also wrote the last two Hackney pantos. Original music and songs by Steven Edis, set and costumes by Cleo Pettitt, musical direction by Wendy Gadian, choreography by Mike Ward, lighting by Tim Mitchell and sound by Richard Bell.

Getting to the Hackney Empire

The Hackney Empire is at 291 Mare Street, London E8 1EJ, right next to Hackney Town Hall, in zone 2.

Hackney Central, on the Overground, is the closest station, 5 minutes' walk. Hackney Downs, with trains to Liverpool Street, is about 10 minutes away, and London Fields about 12. There's no Underground station within walking distance: the nearest, Bethnal Green on the Central line, is a short bus ride.

The Hackney Town Hall stop is under a minute from the door, served by the 30, 55, 106, 236, 254, 276, 277, 394 and W15. The 38, 242 and 253 stop on Mare Street by Hackney Central station, about three minutes' walk.

The theatre warns of roadworks and diversions around Hackney Central, so give yourself a bit longer.

Arrive 20 to 30 minutes before, no later. Doors open 45 to 60 minutes before, there are bag checks, and the bars and Box Office take cards only. You can bring bottled water, but no other food or drink.

Stalls and Dress Circle tickets use the main entrance on Mare Street. For the Upper Circle and the Gallery, go round the side to Wilton Way, which is also the best place for a taxi drop-off.

The theatre seats up to 1,268 people on four levels. More about the building is in our Hackney Empire guide.

Accessible performances

• Relaxed performances: Sat 5 Dec 2026, 1:30pm
• Audio described performances: Sun 6 Dec 2026, 1:00pm
• BSL interpreted performances: Sat 5 Dec 2026, 6:00pm; Thu 17 Dec 2026, 7:00pm

Access bookings are handled by the venue's own access team, not by us.

Jack and the Beanstalk FAQs